"Hey sweetheart," Max said as he reached her and slipped his arms around her waist. Liz leaned back into his chest immediately. "How did the exam go?"

She sighed. "Fine, I guess."

Rubbing his cheek against hers, he smiled. His Liz always sounded like this after an exam only to get the highest marks in the class when the results came out. "I miss you," his voice was low and raspy.

Liz spun around in his embrace, lifting her arms around his neck. "Me too!"

Max had to reign in his impulse to swoop down on her mouth and plunder her lips. They were still in school and were trying not to cause any more problems for themselves or their parents until Liz turned 18 too. Which, thankfully, was soon. But he couldn’t keep himself from kissing her softly for few seconds, trying not to let things get out of control. Liz made a soft sound against his mouth and he felt the answering kick of desire in his gut.

When he pulled away, he noticed one of the teachers standing at the other end of the hall watching them. As soon as the teacher saw that Max was looking at her, she turned and walked off. Max frowned, remembering that the teachers had started to show more than a passing interest in him and Liz before she went on course. He moved his hands away from Liz and shoved them into his pockets. Why could they not just be left alone? It was not as if their grades were bad or anything!

Liz was blinking up at him, disorientated by his sudden withdrawal. "What’s wrong. Max?"

"The teachers… We have to be careful, Liz." Seeing her face fall, he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear tenderly. "Just for a little while still, okay?"

She nodded mutely. She was getting so sick of being in school and having to explain to people about her and Max. Just a few more weeks, then she would be 18 too and they could stop worrying about authority figures paying them too much attention…

~*~*~*~*~*~

***TWO WEEKS LATER***

Everyone was at the Evans’ except Liz. Max had called a secret meeting to discuss the plans for Liz’s 18th birthday. She had managed to surprise him with a small gathering for his birthday, and he intended to make hers special as well. Also, this party would mean the end of them hiding the true nature of their relationship to everyone. He planned to tell the others about the engagement then before going public with it.

The last two weeks had been hell. It was clear that they had become the target of an investigation and Max had taken to sneaking around in the middle of the night again. He hated it. He hated that Liz had to move back into her old bedroom and that he was staying in their apartment alone. He hated having to climb up her fire escape in the middle of the night to be with her and he hated that they had to organize times to see each other. Having sex with Liz in the room next to where her parents were sleeping was not fun. It put a severe cramp in their relationship and he took to dragging Liz off to the apartment only to take her back again later when he wanted to be alone with her. They were both starting to feel the effects of too little sleep. Only one more week, he promised himself…

"Maxwell!" Michael’s voice interrupted his thoughts. "Could you get back from Planet Liz so we can finish your latest little scheme, please? And where is the lovely Miss Liz anyway?"

Max stilled for a moment, remembering the last time when Michael had accused him of being on Planet Liz. It had been moments before Jans had abducted him into that underground bunker, making Liz think that he was dead. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the memory. It still hurt when he remembered how afraid he had been that Liz would give up on life… to be with him. "She’s with her Bio teacher. They’re discussing her college plans."

This caught the attention of their parents. "Have you guys decided your college plans yet?"

Max hesitated. He had received the letters from Harvard yesterday and he intended to surprise Liz with hers on her birthday. "Yeah, we have…"

"And?" "And we’re both going to Harvard."

This announcement led to pandemonium. All the parents bore down on Max, hugging him while getting emotional about how wonderful their children were.

Max finally had to put a stop to it all by holding up his hands. "Please! Liz doesn’t know yet. I want to surprise her with her letter. She got a scholarship to study molecular biology."

"She did?" Nancy burst into tears again.

"What are you going to do, son?" Philip was looking at Max.

"I’m going to study medicine. I want to get into medical research…" Max had thought long and hard about what he wanted to do with his life. He had talked to Liz about it for hours. He never really thought about his future much until this last year. Together, they had decided that Max was better off not becoming an actual doctor, too much chance of him getting into situations where he might want to use his powers. Instead, Max would get into research into incurable diseases since that would allow him to remain true to his healing nature without him having to have too much contact with other people. Max was actually starting to get exited about going to college. He was still working on a few details, like where they would live, but he was already sure of one detail: Liz Parker would be Liz Evans before she started her first class at Harvard!

After all the excitement had died down and they finalized the plans for the little party for Liz, Max went home, hoping that Liz wasn’t there yet so he wouldn’t have to explain his whereabouts. He found the apartment empty and made his way through to the Crashdown, finding Maria in the back putting on her apron. She smiled at him: "Better be careful, lover boy, I see our guidance counselor out in the booths."

Cursing under his breath, Max looked out through the window and sure enough, there was Mrs. Moore sitting primly at one of the tables. When he turned back he surprised a solemn expression on Maria’s face. "What’s wrong?"

"I-I’m just going to miss you and Lizzie when you go off to college, that’s all…" She trailed off.

Max nodded. He had also wondered how they were all going to cope with the group breaking up. They had gotten used to doing most everything together and it would be strange to be without this support network all the way out in Boston. He put his arm around Maria. "I know, we’ll just have to make an effort to see each other regularly." But they both knew it would never be the same again…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz bounced into the café a few minutes later, dying to see Max and tell him about her afternoon with her teacher. However, she was intercepted by Maria who quietly pointed out that now was NOT a good time for Liz to look like she was running to the backroom for a secret rendezvous with a certain dark-haired boyfriend of hers. Liz had to relent and went upstairs to her room. Her phone was ringing when she got there.

"Hello?"

"Hey Liz." Max’s voice slid over her senses like warm silk.

"Max! Where are you?"

"I’m at the UFO Museum. I wanted to ask my girlfriend if she would like to have dinner with me at the Crashdown. Do you think she would agree to that?"

"I don’t know," Liz answered with a smile in her voice. "I hear there are teachers hanging out at that café lately and maybe your girlfriend would want to do stuff to you that those teachers shouldn’t see?"

"I know about the teachers. I thought maybe they would stop being so suspicious if they saw me having dinner with my girlfriend in a public place for a change?"

"Maybe…"

"I do intend being alone with her later, though. But don’t tell her, it’s a surprise."

Liz pretended to think about it. "Hmmm, you sound like a nice guy to date. It’s a pity you already have a girlfriend. Is there any chance you might consider cheating on her with me?"

He chuckled. "That depends."

"On what?"

His voice lowered. "On whether you are as beautiful, smart and sexy as she is."

"I think you might be surprised!"

"Meet me downstairs in 10 minutes? I’ll give you my verdict then."

"Okay!" Liz was grinning when she put the phone down. She dashed to her closet, throwing a skirt and blouse on her bed to change into. For some silly reason this felt like a date. She and Max went out every so often, but mostly their real dates were few and far between. Especially with all the studying they’ve been doing lately…

When she arrived in the café in rush a few minutes later, she saw Mrs. Moore chatting with her dad and Max in his usual booth. She said a perfunctory ‘hi’ to the teacher and her father and went over to join Max. He got up as she approached, his eyes sweeping over her appreciatively. They kissed quickly, both aware of the teacher’s attention.

Max took both of her hands in his when she settled across from him in the booth. "You are right, you are just as gorgeous and sexy as my girlfriend."

Liz was squirming under his warm gaze. "Oh? And what about smart?"

"Well, I’d need to talk to you for a bit to know that, wouldn’t I?"

Liz glanced at the teacher, who was still sneaking glances at them while drinking her coffee. "Max, this is horrible! I hate having to hide like this."

"I know, sweetheart. But you’ll be legal soon and then I’m giving up on any and all pretence." He rubbed his thumbs over the backs of her hands. "I love you. We have coped with worse things than this."

"I know. I’m sorry." His caresses on her hands grew softer, more sensual, as his eyes traced the contours of her face. Liz felt herself flush and she licked her lips instinctively.

This caused Max’s eyes to turn a shade darker as they fixed on her moist mouth. "When was the last time I kissed you?"

"I-I think very… early this morning?"

He moved his fingers onto her wrist, feeling her pulse race under his touch. "Liz…"

They were interrupted by a throat being cleared loudly next to them. Maria still had the worst timing ever.

"Hi, I’m Maria and I will be your waitress tonight. Can I get you some drinks?" It was clear that she had a hard time not laughing.

When both Max and Liz just stared at her, she put her notepad away. "Oh-kay! So I’ll come back later. But you two should really get a room, you are making the other patrons jealous!"

They looked at each other and smiled when Maria left. "I thought we’d get better if we lived together," Max said ruefully.

"Yeah, me too. But unfortunately I now know that you even look sexy brushing your teeth!" Liz grinned at Max’s embarrassment.

He recovered quickly. "Please don’t make my mind go to images of you in a towel! I’m desperately trying to keep my cool here."

Liz tangled her feet with his under the table, making Max gasp. "I like you when you’re not—"

"Miss Parker? Could I speak with you for a few minutes?" The voice belonged to Mrs. Moore.

Liz met Max’s gaze. She wondered how much of their conversation the teacher had heard. "Uhm… Sure."

Max gave her hands a squeeze before she got up to follow the teacher to the back room. He wished he could go with her to face whatever this was.

Liz turned to Mrs. Moore when they were alone, looking at her expectantly.